laegion

I'm excited for this especially after Subaru's announcement last year that they wouldn't be coming out with an electric vehicle for more than 5 years. I love that Toyota and Subaru are working together; my two favorite Japanese Auto Makers. Although I'm holding off until they come out with an Electric Outback; maybe in a few years.

It's possible that some of the noise is exhaust shields; but the majority sounds like valves. However there is one tapping sound that is louder than the others that seems to go away when the transmission is in gear. My mechanic acquaintance thought it might be the "flex plate"; which I didn't check the bolts on before install so I separated the engine from the transmission and replaced the flex plate with the one from my other motor just in case it was bent or cracked somewhere I couldn't see. It is a little more quiet now that I switched to OEM oil and filter but it's still far more noisy than it should be especially with "65k" on it. I don't know what the other sound is of course I am worried it could be the start of rod knock or severe piston slap but my friend doesn't think it sounds like piston slap. The strange thing is that it seems to be somewhat intermittent. Also the engine does a strange thing when letting off the throttle at cruise; the RPMs will drop down below 1k for a second and it will feel like it's engine braking but then the RPMs will jump back up to normal after a second or two...but this is also intermittent. I was able to do a little bit of data capture with my ancient OBD interface but I need to convert it to a spreadsheet to make it usable. I'll post when I have time. Maybe it will help shed some light on this issue or others.

No vacuum leak, no CEL, it sat for a day or so.

It's a 2003.

Exactly, and it can handle a lot more power than the 5 speeds they used in the 90's cars. The first gear in the autos may be higher, but the torque converter gives it a huge leg up. I've seen what 5-speeds have to do to get around off road and I can't imagine a clutch would last long. Plus the center diff paired with the auto is far better off road as it can and will actually lock in a 1:1 ratio. The viscous center in the manual transmission cars does not fully lock or ever give 50% front 50% rear. If you're looking to carry more weight and get a mild lift, I'd suggest checking out the lifted King Springs on primitiveracing dot com. They lift about 1-1 1/4 inches. That's what I plan on doing with my OB as they stiffen and lift both.

Well used, but pretty normal. One had a little oil gunk around the top of the threads. They were oem subaru, the replacements are also.

I run mid grade normally. I haven't noticed a difference, but I kinda baby it. I assumed it would just adjust the advance curve if it detected knock? It's supposed to be less than 65k. It definitely looks it. I don't have a written warranty. I replaced the valve cover gaskets, exhaust gaskets, changed plugs, changed oil and filter, lubed up the cam lobes with oil, changed the pcv valve, and the serpentine belt. I used all subaru oem parts and fluids other than the oil and filter. I used the 10w30 synthetic from napa and the 1334 napa gold filter I had for my EJ22. I did not check valve clearances.

The first tank after the swap was premium. I usually run mid-grade. Unfortunately I have no way to log data at the moment, because my OBD port only wants to work with my ancient reader. It can record data but has no way to export it. I could do a video?

and again in drive (with e-brake on) at idle. ez30d in gear idle.mp3

It sounds like a diesel... Copy of Untitled_0.mp3

Finally my JDM motor is installed but it seems to be making a lot of internal noise. I believe it's mostly valve noise but diagnosis isn't my strength. It's also running kinda rough, especially from about 1000-2000rpms, but it idles okay most of the time, sometimes it vibrates a bit more than I think it should. Anyone run into this or have any ideas?

Because other than faulty head gasket design on a few motors (ej25d and ej251) they don't have a higher failure rate than other manufacturers.

Also, does anyone know if these are the same mounts as the outback has? I'd like to use the newer ones if possible.

It seems it's a good thing I ordered the gaskets with my new hoses then. I was leaning toward replacing them. The next question is whether I should mess with the lower oil pan...It doesn't seem to be leaking as there is definitely oil in the motor at the moment. It doesn't seem to be dented or bent but I will do a closer inspection in a few days. I'm leaning toward leaving it alone if it's not leaking and doesn't look damaged. I can always change it later.

So, my JDM engine arrived. It's extremely clean. I'm currently ordering parts...and when I was looking at the valve covers I noticed what looks like a semi-clear silicone that was used to help seal up the valve covers. They don't look like they are leaking at all. What would you do? Change them or leave them?

The holes in the frame rails aren't obvious until you get underneath and see how the hitch installs. I have a Curt hitch receiver and I just swapped it from my 95 wagon to my 2003 Wagon. It used one different hole on the hitch for the drivers side tie-down loop, some extra washers to space it out and that was all. Bolted right up with the 4 bolts. Sometimes those plugs on the frame are so covered in dirt they aren't noticeable. I got my hitch from etrailer dot com. They even have good installation instructions on their sight.

My JDM EZ30D is on it's way to me and of course I want to do plugs while it's out. I was thinking Denso or NGK platinum so I don't have to change them for quite a while? Any reason I should or shouldn't use platinum in the EZ30? NGK or Denso? or some other brand?

That wasn't my post, I just replied to it. My old OBDII scanner uses 4xAA for power Yes, all 3 interface with my '95 Legacy with no issues. My Bluetooth unit is just the generic elm327. I've checked the fuse. If you look at the diagrams it shows the power to the OBDII port is shared as a back-up power for the ECU and feeds two circuits on the main relay. One circuit powers the O2 Sensors, the other powers a bunch of valves and sensors.

Here are the relevant pages from the service manual, hopefully someone more knowledgeable than myself can spot something I haven't...

I've been having an issue where none of my OBDII interfaces that power off of the port itself can connect to the ECU, They get power but cannot connect to the iso9141 protocol even though both should be able to do so. I do have a self-powered, super old OBDII diagnostic reader that does work. While this is helpful I'd like for my Sprint Drive and my Bluetooth adapter to work so I can use my phone rather than this old. My Sprint Drive does register the voltage from the port at 11.4v and I'm wondering if this would be enough to cause a connection error? I'm thinking about hooking up a different 12v source; but I can't see any reason why there would be a problem; none of the other stuff hooked up on the same fuse or ground is having an issue that I can tell...so I'm thinking bad port or a wire short? The fuses are all fine. Has anyone run into anything like this before?

That makes sense as '95 was voluntary OBDII, but the more interesting question is if 96-99 ECUs can be plugged in without messing with the wiring harness or re-pinning the plug?

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I don't know for sure on your car since mine is a 2003, still the same generation so maybe the same. On mine there is a small cover in the top right corner of the shift plate. Just gently pop that off with a flat head screw driver and the use the screw driver to gently push down on the plastic beneath the cover and your shifter will move.

'96-'99 Outback struts are a direct fit, they will raise the ride height about 2" but there's more to do than that if you want normal longevity from your axle shafts and to have your rear wheels in the center of the wheel well, You'll also need the subframe spacers from an outback and the rear trailing arm spacers. Other model and year strut assemblies vary on lift and fitment. There is a post somewhere on the net that details all the different options.